Helix Mode

Postmodern keybindings for a premodern editor: Helix keybindings in Emacs.

Helix is a modal text editor with keybindings similar to vi, but with some noteworthy differences. Helix Mode supports a small subset of Helix functionality with the goal of recreating the editor navigation/selection experience in Helix while leaving the hard problems (like directory navigation and searching) to Emacs. The result is a small keybinding layer that supports Vim-like hjkl motion commands, while retaining Helix's selection-first model.

Helix Mode integrates nicely with project.el, eglot, and xref.

Installation

Emacs >= 29.1 required.

Helix Mode is available on MELPA:

(use-package helix
  :ensure t
  :config
  (helix-mode))

Or you can clone this repository and modify your load path:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/helix-mode")
(require 'helix)
(helix-mode)

Global vs. local mode

You can enable Helix mode globally (e.g. for all buffers besides minibuffers) via

(helix-mode)

Alternatively, you can manually toggle Helix mode on/off in local buffers by invoking helix-normal-mode:

(helix-normal-mode 1)

Configuration

Multiple cursors

Helix Mode provides extensions for the multiple-cursors.el package available on NonGNU ELPA. If you have multiple-cursors installed, Helix Mode automatically detects it and sets up the integration when loaded. No additional configuration is needed.

The integration adds selection manipulation keybindings that spawn multiple cursors (e.g. helix-multiple-cursors-select-regex).

jj as escape

Helix Mode supports remapping "jj" as escape for the purpose of exiting Insert Mode. Invoke helix-jj-setup to activate jj-mode.

This is useful in terminal mode, since escape currently cannot be bound.

(helix-jj-setup 0.2)

By default, helix-jj-setup configures a 0.2 second timeout that waits for a second "j" keypress before canceling. You can configure different timeouts by passing your desired timeout as an argument to helix-jj-setup.

Relative line number mode

You can replicate Helix's line-number: relative in Helix Mode by changing the display-line-numbers variable in Emacs based on the current minor mode:

(use-package helix
  :hook ((helix-normal-mode . (lambda () (setq display-line-numbers 'relative)))
         (helix-insert-mode . (lambda () (setq display-line-numbers t))))
  :config
  (helix-mode))

Extension

Keys

You can add new keys to the Helix keymaps via helix-define-key:

Example:

(helix-define-key 'space "w" #'do-something-cool)

The first argument to helix-define-key is a Helix state. The valid options are: insert, normal, space, view, goto, and window.

Major-mode-specific keys

You can override Helix keybindings for specific major modes by passing a mode symbol as the fourth argument to helix-define-key. These bindings only take effect when that mode is active:

(with-eval-after-load 'dired
  (helix-define-key 'normal "j" #'dired-next-line 'dired-mode)
  (helix-define-key 'normal "k" #'dired-previous-line 'dired-mode))

In this example, j and k call dired-next-line and dired-previous-line when in a Dired buffer, but retain their default Helix behavior everywhere else. This works by storing the bindings in minor-mode-overriding-map-alist, which takes precedence over the Helix state keymaps in minor-mode-map-alist.

Typable commands

You can create new typable commands (invoked via ":command-name") with helix-define-typable-command.

Example:

(helix-define-typable-command "format" #'format-all-buffer)

Supported keybindings

Normal mode is the default mode. You can return to it by pressing ESC.

Movement

Key	Description	Command
h	Move left	helix-backward-char
l	Move right	helix-forward-char
j	Move down	helix-next-line
k	Move up	helix-previous-line
w	Move next word start	helix-forward-word-start
W	Move next WORD	helix-forward-long-word-start
e	Move word end	helix-forward-word-end
E	Move WORD end	helix-forward-long-word-end
b	Move previous word	helix-backward-word
B	Move previous WORD	helix-backward-long-word
t	Find 'till next char	helix-find-till-char
T	Find 'till prev char	helix-find-prev-till-char
f	Find next char	helix-find-next-char
F	Find prev char	helix-find-prev-char
M-.	Repeat last motion (f, t, F, T)	helix-find-repeat
G	Go to line	N/A
C-b	Move page up	N/A
C-f	Move page down	N/A

Changes

Key	Description	Command
d	Delete selection	helix-kill-thing-at-point
y	Yank selection	helix-kill-ring-save
p	Paste	N/A
v	Begin selection	helix-begin-selection
u	Undo	N/A
o	Insert newline	helix-insert-newline
O	Insert line above	helis-insert-prevline
i	Insert mode	helix-insert
I	Insert beginning of line	helix-insert-beginning-line
a	Insert after	helix-insert-after
A	Insert end of line	helix-insert-after-end-line
r	Replace with a character	helix-replace
R	Replace with yanked text	helix-replace-yanked
C-c	Comment line	N/A

Selection

Key	Description	Command
x	Select current line	helix-select-line

Search

Key	Description	Command
/	Search	helix-search
?	Search backwards	helix-begin-search-backward
n	Continue search forwards	helix-search-forward
N	Continue search backwards	helix-search-backward

Command mode

Accessed by typing : in normal mode. Accepts typable commands like :write, :quit, and so on.

Goto mode

Accessed by typing g in normal mode.

Key	Description	Command
g	Go to beginning of file	helix-go-beginning-buffer
e	Go to end of file	helix-go-end-buffer
l	Go to end of line	helix-go-end-line
h	Go to beginning of line	helix-go-beginning-line
s	Go to first non-whitespace character	helix-go-first-nonwhitespace
r	Find references	N/A
d	Find definitions	N/A

Window mode

Accessed by typing C-w in normal mode.

Key	Description	Command
w	Switch to next window	N/A
v	Vertical right split	N/A
s	Horizontal bottom split	N/A
h	Move to left split	N/A
j	Move to split below	N/A
k	Move to split above	N/A
l	Move to right split	N/A
q	Close current window	N/A
o	Only keep current window	N/A

Space mode

Accessed by typing space in normal mode.

Key	Description	Command
f	Find file at project root	N/A
b	Switch to project buffer	N/A
j	Switch project	N/A
/	Search within project	N/A

Roadmap

Helix Mode isn't designed to completely re-implement Helix in Emacs, but rather serve as a compatibility layer that connects many of the Helix keybindings to Emacs functions. I expect most users to still rely on Emacs fundamentals like isearch, Eglot, consult, or vertico.

Goals:

• Core editing, navigation, and selection behaviors.
• A framework for surrounding contexts (word, paragraph, etc.).
• Tree-sitter navigation.
• Simple multiple cursors (via multiple-cursors integration).
• LSP (via Eglot integration).
• Extensibility for custom keybindings/typable commands.

Non-goals:

• Search (Helix Mode provides a simple search, but I think most folks are better off using consult).
• Pickers.
• Extensive configuration options like the Helix config/languages TOML files.
• Completion (I use completion-preview and it works perfectly with Helix Mode).
• Advanced multiple-cursors + selection behaviors. I'll do my best to support keybindings for multiple-cursors, but I'm unsure how deep I want to dive into overhauling the Emacs selection framework.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.

License

Licensed under GPLv3.